Orange Essential Oils Inhibit
Salmonella Activity
Source of Article: http://www.naturalnews.com/024723.html
Thursday, November 06, 2008 by: David
Gutierrez
(NaturalNews)
Essential oils extracted from oranges can inhibit the activity of salmonella
and may be useful as natural antimicrobial agents, according to a study
published in the Journal of Food Science.
"Essential oils from citrus offer the potential for all natural
antimicrobials for use in improving the safety of organic or all natural
foods," the researchers said.
Prior studies have demonstrated that various citrus essential oils can
function as natural preservatives by inhibiting the activity of fungi and
bacteria. In the current study, researchers exposed 11 different strains of salmonella
to seven different orange essential oils: cold-pressed Valencia orange oil terpeneless,
Valencia orange oil,
cold-pressed orange terpenes, high-purity orange terpenes, d-limonene, terpenes
from orange essence and five-fold concentrated Valencia orange oil.
Three of the oils inhibited salmonella activity: orange terpenes,
single-folded d-limonene, and orange essence terpenes.
The most effective essential oil was orange essence terpenes,
with a minimum inhibitory concentration of between 0.125 and 0.5 percent. The
other two essential oils had minimum inhibitory concentrations of 1.0
percent.
The researchers then examined the chemical makeup of the essential oils with
mass chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. They found that d-limonene
composed 94 percent of the oils, with myrcene
composing another 3 percent.
The results follow those of another recent study, conducted by researchers
from Miguel Hernandez
University in Alicante, Spain,
and published in the journal Food Chemistry. In that study,
researchers found that oils from grapefruit, orange, lemon and mandarin all
inhibited the activity of the common food
molds Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium verrucosum.
"It seems that citrus essential oils could be considered suitable
alternatives to chemical additives for use in the food industry, attending to
the needs for safety and satisfying the demand of consumers for natural
components," those researchers wrote.
Responding to consumer demand for more natural foods, food manufacturers have
been increasingly seeking alternatives to synthetic preservatives.
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